(Give me double stones for double chap! đź‘€)
[3rd Person POV]
*Klang-Klang* (Law & Order theme)
Inside Phil and Claire's bedroom, countless papers were spread out on the bed. There was a board on the side where Phil was pinning a picture on it, trying to connect the events scattered inside Edward's journal and his family photos to further understand him.
Sitting on a chair nearby with her hair tied up and wearing glasses, Claire used chopsticks to grab the noodles from the Chinese food container she was holding.
"I got it. He played at the symposium. Your mom was escorted out of a symposium for disrupting the event." Phil said in excitement.
Claire shook her head and said decisively, "No. Mom got thrown out on the 23rd. His performance is on the 22nd. They wouldn't've met."
Phil retraced the thread to see the journal page he had pinned up for the date, "Oh yeah. His mother promised him for their family to go Disneyland on the 23rd, after he won the contest. But she broke the promise and brought him to another instructor instead for training."
"That's sad. He never went to Disneyland." Claire muttered with a dejected expression after checking the facts about Edward's childhood.
"Come on Claire. Focus. If we crack this one, you know what that means?" Phil said solemnly. "It means, we will finally get the upper hand in our argument with him. We had never won against him…not even once." He added with some expectation of finally showing himself as an 'adult' while talking with Ed.
"Then, there's got to be something to explain why that happened." Claire said as she put the food container down and walked to the board. "He said it's innate hate. Ed never picks his wordings carelessly."
Phil nodded at Claire's words before he said, "It didn't seem that he wanted to do that on purpose, rather that he couldn't help what he was feeling. So what caused it? What triggers it?"
At this moment, the door to the bedroom was knocked. Claire and Phil turned their heads toward the door before Claire walked slowly to open it.
"Hi. What did you find out?" Mitchell asked as he entered the room. Cam followed behind Mitchell wearing a pink paisley shirt and jeans. "Ho Ho, someone's been watching Castle. So who's going to be Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic?"
The group was confused about Cam's statement and stared at him, making him smile wryly.
[Cam's commentary]
"Being a stay-at-home dad/trophy wife, I had nothing much to do except binge-watching some shows while taking care of Lily. "
[Commentary ends]
"Isn't he just in his rebellious stage? I remember a friend of mine in highschool wanted to seem more edgy, therefore he acted rude around everyone else." Mitchell said.
"I consider that too, but teenagers like that would be rude to everyone, not just a specific person." Claire deduced brilliantly while staring at a picture of Edward's mother on the wall.
"Claire?" Mitchell asked in concern as he saw Claire was staring at the picture intently. She then said, "My instinct is telling me that this picture is useful, but I don't know why."
"Let me see that." Cam said while pushing Claire away and took her place to stare at the picture. "Wait. this necklace…Isn't this the same one that your mom is wearing right now?" Cam asked while pointing at the seashell necklace Edward's mother was wearing.
"WAIT SERIOUSLY!?" Claire and Phil shouted at the same time and pushed Cam away before Phil took down the picture and held it in his hand. Claire took a closer look and said, "It's similar. But That couldn't be the reason…right?"
In another room, a young teenage girl was in a dilemma of her own.
"Why is he being like this?!"
Walking back and forth by the side of her bed, Haley was lost in her thoughts and couldn't help but be anxious as she thought that her friendship with Edward was ruined.
"...I- I need to go talk to him…" She muttered before becoming determined to settle the problems today.
But, the moment she opened her door, she saw her parents opening their own door and were in a heated discussion about who should be the one to go talk to the boy she wanted to talk to. She instinctively hid herself behind the door to listen to their conversation.
"You should stay here with your mom. I can handle this on my own Claire. We're best friends." Phil said hurriedly and tried to get away from Claire who was holding him by the edge of his shirt.
"That's why I should go there. He needs an adult to talk to him, not a friend." Claire debated. "And I'm not letting you hog all the credit."
"Oh my god. Just go there together. This wasn't supposed to be a hard discussion." Mitchell said in annoyance as he was tired of the couple's antics.
'Wait. Mom and Dad want to go and see him?...I should cut them off and go there first to settle things with him before they come. Otherwise they'll… know…' Haley thought before she opened her bedroom door abruptly– causing the adults to be startled, and descended the stairs quickly before exiting the front door.
"I'll be back before dinner!" Haley shouted before her parents could ask her where she was going.
…
[Edward POV]
"Ah damn…the kiss…Now that my trauma has been repressed, I can finally think about that." I muttered while holding my chin with my fingers as I fell into deep thoughts.
"(Sigh) I guess I should go and apologize." With slumped shoulders, I walked to the front door as I wanted to go over to the Dunphy's and meet up with Haley.
However, as I opened the door, the anxious girl who was trying to knock it with her balled up hand missed the target and stumbled into my arms unexpectedly. Haley's face blushed as my arms wrapped around her, but she quickly shook her face to snap out of the feelings that were bubbling up to the surface.
"Ah. Haley. I was going to go to your house to talk to you." I said as I helped her stand up properly. "We need to talk about the ki-"
Haley covered my mouth with her hand in embarrassment and quickly said, "What kiss? Nothing happened between us. We definitely didn't kiss each other."
Gently moving her hand out of the way, I said, "Although I wanted to pretend it didn't happen too, it did happen, and we need to talk about it."
"No. We don't have to talk about it. That…that is just an accident. I was feeling vulnerable from my fight with my mom, and I just wanted to kiss someone to forget about it. I would do the same to a stranger if they were around-"
Ignoring her words, I said, "Although you want to deny that you're attracted to me-"
"Who's attracted to you!?-"
"I am attracted to you too. That's why, the situation is now complicated, and I had to return home to arrange my thoughts first."
Haley was stunned by honesty. Her eyes widened and she mumbled, "Wha-"
'I'd be lying if I said that I never thought about it.' I thought as I smiled at the doe-eyes girl. 'But…if I date her…then…what will happen if things don't work out?'
"Wait. If I'm attracted to you, and you're attracted to me…doesn't that mean…"
"That we can or should ask each other out? That's true. But, I wouldn't want to make you suffer when you date me." I said calmly.
Haley was confused and said, "What do you mean?"
"Haley. You know that I dated Abby before right? And you're her best friend." I said. Haley nodded and said, "But…I don't think Abby would mind if we truly liked each other."
"That's true. But my main concern is not that-"
"What is your concern? Don't beat around the bush and just say that you don't want to date me. I can take it." She said in annoyance.
As I saw she was frustrated, I patted her head gently to calm her down and said, "My main concern is…we fall in love…"
"W-W-We're just dating. Why did had you think so far-"
"Because. You're my friend. One of my best friends in fact. If we date, and one of us falls in love with the other, then when it doesn't work out, we might not be able to stay as friends. Then, I can no longer hang out with your family, nor will they feel comfortable meeting with me. Even your mom will be affected, as she is working under me. So, I need to think far ahead about this. This isn't a decision that I could make wantonly. "
"Wait. You don't want to date me because you want to hang out with my family?" Haley asked in confusion.
"That's the simple explanation. Yes." I replied with a gentle smile.
Although I shared my true thoughts with Haley, I kept the last and final thought especially just for me. This word's Ed was a child of divorce, and the previous life Ed had never fallen in love with someone, and doesn't feel that I could ever trust someone completely.
If I dated Haley, I would just bring her more suffering rather than helping her grow as a person in our relationship. I would just be a side character god had placed in Haley's life for her character development, and I was afraid that I couldn't give a positive impact on her life. I wanted to stay in the Dunphy's family life for a long time, and if I date Haley, I would just give myself a time limit until we get bored with each other and finally have our unavoidable breakup.
Parallel thinking has its own side effect. It was easier for me to overthink nowadays.
Greatly confused, Haley asked, "So, you like my family more than me?"
"I like them too, and I like you, so I don't want to risk losing it all." I said, causing the attraction she has towards me to be replaced by annoyance.
"Urgh. Seriously?"
"Yup. And If we date and break up, how can I teach you how to design after that? Maybe, we can try again years later in the future, but right now, it's not a suitable time for us to do that."
"Ugh!" Haley groaned and turned her back towards me before walking away a few steps. But, she paused and turned slightly towards me while saying, "So…If you don't know my family… or know me before this?"
"I would date you, without doubt. Also, I'm a bit regretful. I was so stunned during the kiss that I didn't feel anything. If I knew then, I would try to enjoy it more."
Haley smirked and said, "Ha! Serves you right! And I would never kiss you again, so you just have to go through life wondering what that will feel like-"
Without her realizing it, I had already stood in front of her and used my finger to raise her chin up. Then, I kissed her without saying anything. Stunned, Haley froze on the spot with her eyes closed.
After 3 seconds, I finally separated my lips from her and pulled my head back. While licking my lips, I said, "Hmm…Tasted like strawberries."
Unlucky for Haley, before she could react, we both heard Phil calling for us from afar.
"E-money! Haley!"
We turned to the side of the street where Phil was calling from and we saw Claire and Phil were walking hurriedly toward us.
"Wait, did they see us kissing?!" Haley said while freaking out.
"Calm down. Don't admit to anything unless they tell us they saw us kissing. Don't even admit it if they were only hinting at it." I said whisperingly to Haley before greeting Phil and Claire, "Hey. Sorry for my reaction before-"
"NO! Don't say sorry now! We will talk to you first." Claire said hurriedly.
[Phil and Claire's commentary]
Claire said, "If he apologized, then it means that his conscience had brought him back to the right path. I can't let that happen."
Phil nodded and said, "That credit is for us. Not to whatever the voice inside his head had talked to him about."
Claire nodded and said, "Yeah. It's our time to shine. If he comes to apologize on his own, then all of our preparation will be useless."
Phil agreed with Claire and muttered, "It's on."
[Commentary ends]
Claire cleared her throat and said, "Ed. What you did was rude, and we need to talk about that. Can you tell us why you did that?"
I stared blankly at Claire as I was confused by the situation. "Didn't I just said I'm sorr-"
Phil interjected quickly before I could finish my sentence, "I don't know what happened to you in the past. Maybe…meeting Dede today has brought up some bad memories that make you want to lash out at an innocent person."
Claire added, "Also, you realized that walking out of the dinner is running away from conflict?"
I tried to get a word in, "Yeah. I realized all of that. That's why I was going to go there to apologize now-"
Phil put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Ed. Dede is not your mother."
His statement caused me to be greatly confused, but my reaction encouraged them to continue doing more of their bit as they thought my silence was an agreement on the topic.
"Mom. Let him talk." Haley interjected.
Claire turned to Haley and said, "Why are you here? I thought you're meeting your friends?"
"No..I..uh…" Haley stammered so I spoke up to help her. "She came here with the same purpose as you."
"Good job Haley." Phil said. "Wait. I need to be less supportive. Uhh…You did an average job?"
I facepalmed at Phil's words and Haley was baffled by the whole situation.
Then, I realized that it would be better if I played along with their bit instead of ignoring it. That way, it would end sooner.
"Look. Claire. I admit that I had some reservations about being in the same room with your mom, but I was just confused about what reaction I was supposed to have before. Now that I have time to think about it, I can act normally around her without insulting her everytime she takes a breath and wasting the world's oxygen."
"See. that. Ed, you need to get rid of that presumption. She is a controlling monster, but deep down… Deep Deep down… very deep down… she's a nice woman." Claire said.
As the conversation was quick paced, I accidentally revealed my honest thoughts, "I don't believe in deep down. I believe, you're the thing that you do. Murderers, kidnappers, scammers. If you believe in deep down, then deep down these human trash are good too. Then, should they not…be punished for their mistake?"
Claire was taken aback by my words and fell into a silence. She hasn't expected that type of attack, and now she's at a loss for words.
"Damn it." I cursed softly as I had unwillingly prolonged the difficult conversation these people wanted to have with me.
"But Ed. Forgiveness will bring you inner peace in the future." Phil added to save Claire from the brimstone. "If you're not willing to forgive your mother, then you won't find the peace inside."
"What are you, Master Shifu?" I said in frustration while rubbing my head. Using my parallel thinking this time, I made an analogy that they could fight against and win against me if they thought about the situation properly.
I sighed and said, "For me, forgiving the monster inside your family is like the movie, Beauty and the Beast. Kidnap the lady, force her to live alone with you in the castle, until she finally couldn't differentiate a man and a beast. That's not love. That's Stockholm syndrome. When the beast was finally out of the castle, then Belle could see her situation in a different perspective. She's a prisoner, nothing more."
Phil smiled and said, "If you want to use beauty and the beast as an example, then you have to admit something. That…you are living inside a fairy tale. In the real world, there isn't a prince cursed by magic. There's only other people."
Claire added, "There's no villain that wants to split you up. Or turned into a dragon."
"Claire, that's a different story." Phil said quickly.
"Still in a fairytale category, so it counts." Claire said shamelessly. She hugged me suddenly and said, "I know how you're feeling. I had a controlling mother growing up too. But now, I have my own family that I swore I would protect from going through the same pain I did. I want that for you too, as I consider you part of our family."
I was baffled by her hug, and although I manipulated the conversation in this direction, Claire and Phil's sincere feeling of wanting to save me from my emotional distress moved me. I realized that they had made a lot of preparation for this and I felt only gratitude for them.
"Okay." I replied simply while maintaining a poker face. "Thank you Claire."
She finally released me with a soft smile on her face. Haley watched the scene and then sighed as she finally realized she couldn't win in the affection ranking as the top places were filled with her mom and dad.
[Claire's commentary.]
"AND THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT!"
[Commentary ends]
Phil realized that he had lost and said hurriedly, "NO! Wait- I meant. Ed- Just because Dede was wearing a seashell necklace same as your mom, doesn't mean that-"
Claire stopped him quickly before he managed to spill out everything and revealed their secrets.
"Wait. How did you know that?" I asked while narrowing my eyes at Phil and Claire. Both of them broke into cold sweats before Haley turned to me and said, "Wait. That's why you're rude to Nana? Because she wore the same necklace?"
"What? No. My mom talked to her once while I was 8, and was influenced by using crystals and essential oils as a (Mockingly)natural remedy for sickness. (Normally) Do you know how many nights I had to suffer because of that? My dad had to sneak some antibiotics in my food just to feed me true medicine." I explained why I was so hostile towards Dede.
""Ahhh…" Phil and Claire both exclaimed in realization.
"How did you know about the necklace?" I asked again while becoming increasingly agitated.
"Uhh…I need to go help Claire make dinner. Bye Ed." Phil said hurriedly before he ran away.
"Your WIFE IS HERE!" I shouted towards him as he sprinted toward his house. "How did you know Claire?" I said as I turned toward Claire.
"Uhh…I need to let Phil help me make dinner. Don't forget to come over Ed! Now. Talk to Haley." Claire said before running off too.
"They are suspicious." I muttered.
Haley said innocently, "Aren't they just hurrying to make dinner? It's almost dinner time too, and I don't think mom has cooked anything."
Turning toward her, I patted her hair gently with some pity in my eyes.
"URGH! Stop messing with my hair. And now with mom's gone, I can finally be mad at you!" Haley said angrily.
"What? Now we're even. You sneaked a kiss on me once, I did the same thing to you. That's it."
Haley thought for a second before saying she reprimanded me, "Okay. I'll accept that. But this is just for today. From tomorrow onwards, There will be no more kissing between us." She gestured 'No' with her hands cutely, causing me to chuckle.
"Sure." I replied simply, making her annoyed again.
"Seriously. No more." Haley said again.
"I know." I said before walking toward my house.
"Wait, aren't you coming to dinner?" Haley asked in confusion.
"I don't know why, but my instinct tells me to bring a guitar with me. Also, as I had rejected you-"
"No. I rejected you."
"You kissed me first."
"When did that happen?" Haley played dumb shamelessly.
I sighed and said, "If I rejected you, then I wanted to make up a song for you. But as You're the one who rejected me-"
"NO! Ughhh! FINE I got rejected! Are you happy!? Now give me my song!"
************
Author: I fulfilled my promise. The next chapter will be on Tuesday. I plan on doing only 4 chapter a week during Ramadhan, and I will return to my normal schedule after Eid. Enjoy the chap!